


Sand In Places

by StrayLiger



Category: Gundam 00
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 01:00:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16336733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrayLiger/pseuds/StrayLiger
Summary: Maybe, just maybe, the desert wasn’t such a bad place after all.





	Sand In Places

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little LockTie thingy I have been picking at in between assignments and opening commissions and generally avoiding my responsibilities lmao
> 
> I really need a beta reader tbh.

The night sky was so clear that Lockon didn’t dare to look at the moon directly, for fear of being blinded by its brightness.

Where he grew up, the sky was perpetually clouded, darkened by smog and rain, and it was a miracle to catch a glimpse of the pale silver halo of the moon; before he was whisked into space by Celestial Being, he’d never seen the stars so clearly, and right now he was being reminded of the first time he found himself far enough from earth that looking at them made him feel vaguely uncomfortable, like there was nothing really keeping him from falling toward them, into the darkness.

He noticed that he wasn’t the only one affected by the unnatural clarity: the other three Gundam Meisters seemed restless, even though they were as quiet as usual, and instead of deciding to hide each inside the cockpit of their respective Gundams, chose to sit silently together in a circle on the ground around a small fire that Setsuna managed to start.

Sumeragi ordered them to remain on standby, and none of them protested, even though remaining alone and silent for hours in the desert was probably one of the most unbelievably boring things Neil had done in his life. It did take them a few hours to find the large rocks nestled between the dunes where they hid their mobile suits, and it took them almost an extra one to get Virtue to fit in the narrow space between the rocks (Ian was going to flip when he saw the dents in the armor and the scratches on the Kyrios’ paint), but after that, Neil’s companions had fallen silent again and pretended the other didn’t exist, which was their favorite hobby.

Neil offered to take the first watch, and none of them objected.

He took his old rifle, Haro, and his cigarettes, and climbed up to the top of the rocks, making himself as comfortable as he could near the Dynames, and for an hour or so he thought it wasn’t that bad, but there’s two things about the desert that people don’t usually tell you, and he learned about them the hard way: first, the sand gets  _ everywhere _ . He’d spent most of the day brushing sand off his fucking flight suit, his hair, he found it inside his cigarettes, inside the cockpit, in the seams of Haro’s orange shell, and he could still feel it in…  _ places _ .

And second, in the desert, when night comes, the temperature drops,  _ fast _ .

Soon enough he was curled up as far as he could around Haro, smoking almost frantically in a bad attempt to keep his teeth from clacking and wondering if he could shoot a rifle when his hands seemed about as useful as frozen saussages, and why the fuck he hadn’t thought of bringing a fucking blanket with him.

God, he fucking  _ hated _ the fucking desert.

He was actually wondering if he was going to survive the night, when he heard someone climbing up the rocks-out of instinct, he reached out for his rifle, before recognizing the bright purple of Tieria’s hair, the glint of his glasses. In the harsh white moonlight his skin was so pale it seemed to glow. The Meister of the Virtue had a blanket around his shoulders, and Lockon had to hold back a jealous sigh.

Haro rocked on his lap, flapping cheerfully.

“Tieria! Tieria!” he announced.

Lockon raised his eyebrows.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “You should go back to sleep. My watch isn’t over yet.”

To his surprise, Tieria trudged to where he was and sat down next to him.

“Allelujah Haptism  _ snores _ ” he snapped. By his tone, it was clear that he considered it a personal offense, and Lockon had to chuckle.

“So what? Throw something at him. That usually works for me.”

“I did. Setsuna and I have been throwing things at him for an hour. He  _ still _ won’t wake up, or shut up” Tieria replied curtly, sounding clearly annoyed, making Lockon raise his eyebrows as he tried not to laugh, imagining the scene. It was a miracle that Tieria had actually had the patience to not get up and empty his bottle of water in Allelujah’s face.

(“Snore!” Haro chimed.)

“Well, shit” was the only thing he could think of saying. Tieria huffed, wrapping the blanket even tighter around himself. Lockon gave the blanket a longing look, sighed, and took another drag of his cigarette, before turning to look again at the horizon. The landscape was so motionless and quiet it was almost maddening.

He heard Tieria huff again next to him, and suddenly he remembered.

“Shit” Lockon blurted out. “I forgot. You don’t like the smoke, do you?” he gestured to put out the cigarette on the rocks next to him, but Tieria shook his head.

“It’s ok” he said quietly. “For once, I don’t mind.”

Lockon’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Really?”

Tieria glared at him. At this point, his glares had no effect on his companions, but he did it anyway-Tieria never  _ looked _ at anyone, he always glared. Or maybe he didn’t, but with eyes like his, sharp and piercing, with the graceful eyebrows that naturally curved forward in a stern gesture, it was hard not to look like he was doing it.

“Listen, at this point you could push me off this rock and it’d still be more tolerable than Haptism’s snoring” Tieria said, and Lockon  _ had _ to laugh.

“It can’t be  _ that _ bad!”

“You’ll see when it’s your turn. It’s like trying to sleep next to a fucking jet engine” hearing Tieria cuss was something that everyone was used to at this point, except Lockon. It never failed to surprise him to hear the proper, impeccable Tieria Erde blurt out the f word, and it never failed to make him smile.

A hush fell between them again, and Lockon finished his cigarette.

“Your teeth are clacking so hard it echoes” Tieria said after a moment of silence. His companion had to laugh again, even though he was actually freezing. It was hard to speak, but he still managed to blurt out:

“Sorry. Are you gonna start throwing things at me too now?” Tieira raised an eyebrow at him, obviously unimpressed by his attempt at joking.

He hesitated for a moment, and then did something so out of character that it made Lockon’s mind go blank.

Tieria scooted closer to him and wrapped the blanket around the two of them. Lockon felt himself go warm all of a sudden, in a way that had nothing to do with the blanket, and everything to do with the fact that Tieria Erde’s lithe form was pressed up against him, so close that he could smell his hair. His mouth went dry.

He opened his mouth to say something,  _ anything, _ but Tieria was faster. He gave him one of his famous glares, and Lockon immediately clicked his mouth shut. Tieria’s cheeks were slightly stained pink.

“If you tell anyone about this I  _ will _ shoot the Dynames right off the fucking sky” he hissed. Lockon raised his hands in an appeasing gesture, smiling.

“My lips are sealed” he promised. Haro made a little metallic noise in his lap, reminding them of his presence, and Lockon chuckled. “And Haro’s, too.” Hesitantly, he dared to wrap his arm around Tieria’s shoulders, pulling him closer-the other Meister stiffened for a moment, but after a moment he relaxed, leaning against him, even placing his head on Lockon’s shoulder as he pulled the blanket tighter around them. It didn’t take long before his body slowly started growing warm again, and he was so comfortable it was a struggle not to fall asleep.

He looked back up at the moon above them, unnaturally large and bright, like an eye. The stars above them were cold like diamonds, and he could even see the bright ring of faint lights of the orbital ring. But this time he didn’t feel restless, or unsafe. Tieria’s breath had now taken the slow, soft cadence of sleep, and Haro remained quiet and still on his lap, as if he knew and didn’t want to wake him up. Lockon had to bite his lip to avoid chuckling when he realized that he could actually hear Allelujah’s snores from where they were.

Maybe, just maybe, the desert wasn’t such a bad place after all.

  
  



End file.
